The present invention is directed to floatation swimwear and more specifically to a one-piece swimsuit having top and bottom components with a built-in floatation component inside the upper component adjacent to the chest and upper back and extending over the shoulders.
A great number of people die every year from accidental drowning. A large percentage of them are children too young to have learned to swim and to float. Others at unusual risk of drowning are the elderly and the infirm, as well as certain handicapped persons. Thus, it is necessary to provide young children, the elderly, the infirm and the handicapped with a floatation device to protect them from accidental drowning when they to be in or near a body of water. However, the present art of floatation devices has certain drawbacks and limitations. Most of the floatation devices presently provided for children are in the form of inflated toys, rings, rafts or the like. Such independent floatation devices are not readily available when a child accidentally falls into a body of water, and they become useless dead weight when punctured. Even when a child is in a body of water with such floatation devices, it is easy for the devices to become separated from the child, either accidentally or by the child removing it.
Other types of floatation devices presently available are of the life vest type for children and adults, which tend to be very bulky and cumbersome. Since the vests are usually held on by readily detachable fastening means, a child or other wearer may remove the vest at inappropriate times, thereby compromising the level of safety intended to be provided. The cumbersomeness of these vests and the plurality of tie strings, straps and fasteners enhance the risk of unsafe use due to improper fastening or failure to use the fastening means. The bulkiness of such vests inhibits any attempt to learn how to swim, which is the most effective means of enhancing the safety of children in water. The difficulty of putting them on is also a deterrent to their use. Examples of such floatation vests are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 685,757, 4,263,6864,551,107 and 4,689,030.
It is also known to provide a floatation jacket which covers the entire torso of the wearer. Such a jacket is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,622. Floatation devices may be in the form of a plurality of tubes filled with styrofoam pellets which extend about the torso of the wearer below the arm pits. The floatation devices can also be comprised of inflatable tubes. In one embodiment of that patent, the tubular floatation members are disposed vertically but in no instance is there any provision for extending the floatation members over the shoulders of the wearer, providing means of keeping the wearer's face out of the water, providing for a single piece floatation member, providing for the floatation member to be disposed above the bend of the waist of the wearer, or providing for the removal of the floatation member for re-use in another jacket.
A further disadvantage of the prior art is that the floatation devices are worn in addition to a swimsuit garment, thus necessitating uncomfortable layering of materials about the body of the wearer.